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Zaius (I)
Category:ArticlesCategory:Characters | type = | race = | gender = | base of operations = Ape City, New York; 40th century | known relatives = Unnamed granddaughter | status = | born = | died = 3955 | 1st appearance = Planet of the Apes (1968) | final appearance = Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970) | actor = Maurice Evans }} Overview Biography Zaius was one of the only apes in the city who knew that a human culture predated the time of the apes, a fact he eventually confronted his nemesis, Colonel George Taylor, with. Zaius also was well aware that ancient humanity was responsible for it's own destruction. As he said, humanity's madness walked hand in hand with its genius. For that reason, Zaius diligently kept the devolved remnants of humanity in a state of mute savagery and refusing to let them grow and prosper. Upon meeting the astronaut Colonel George Taylor, Zaius was horrified to see a human who could talk like an ape. Although Taylor attempted to explain his origins, Zaius regarded him as nothing more than a mutation. Along with two others, he officiated at Taylor's inquest and determined that he had no rights under ape law, and that he was to be executed. Taylor later escaped custody and Zaius led a contingent of gorillas to track him down. Taylor captured Zaius outside of the Forbidden Zone and forced him to call off the hunt. A short time later, Zaius discovered that a true mutant community was discovered living in underground ruins in the Forbidden Zone. Along with gorilla military leader, General Ursus, Zaius led an expedition into the Forbidden Zone where he once again encountered Taylor. The mutants had in their possession a leftover relic of the 20th century, the Alpha-Omega Bomb. The bomb was activated and nearly everyone on the planet including Zaius were killed. Notes & Trivia * Dr. Zaius was the main antagonist in the original 1968 Planet of the Apes and reappeared in''Beneath the Planet of the Apes'' as a supporting antagonist. * Zaius was based on the character Mi Zaïus from the original novel, La Planète des singes by Pierre Boulle. * See also: Zaius for a complete list of other articles that share this name. * This version of Dr. Zaius is exclusive to the continuity of the Arthur P. Jacobs films and their adaptations. * The role of Dr. Zaius was originally to be played by Edward G. Robinson, and indeed he portrayed Zaius in the 1966 screen-test alongside Charlton Heston, Linda Harrison and James Brolin. With two big name actors to attract investors, the test showed the more advanced ape society of Boulle's book but this proved unworkable. Robinson backed out around April 1967, weeks before filming began, when he realised he would be unable to endure the make-up process every day. His place was taken by Maurice Evans who created arguably the most iconic of the characters from the Apes series. * Apprentice makeup artist Ken Chase was assigned to transform Maurice Evans into 'Dr. Zaius'.2 * Jack Barron also worked on Evans' 'Zaius' makeup on the original Apes movie.3 * There were particular problems with the movement of Maurice Evans’ orangutan mouth appliance, and most of his filmed dialogue had to be 'looped': re-dubbed later in the studio as the actor viewed film of himself to match the pace of his own words. * Along with Kolp, Dr. Zaius is one of only two villains to appear in more than one Arthur P. Jacobs era''Planet of the Apes'' film. * A humorous version of Dr. Zaius was featured in the 7th season episode of The Simpsons entitled "A Fish Called Selma". Zaius was one of many pastiche characters who appeared in a musical stage production of Planet of the Apes. A Dr. Zaius tribute song featured in the episode is sung to the tune of "Rock Me Amadeus", originally by pop-star Falco. Another song was where the musical lampooned the well-known infamous ending with a song called "You'll Never Make a Monkey out of Me", in which the Statue of Liberty appears, causing Troy McClure to sing "Oh my God, I was wrong, it was Earth all along", then speaks "I love you, Dr. Zaius". The spoof was featured in a 1998 documentary Behind the Planet of the Apes hosted by Roddy McDowall as an example of the Ape franchise's popularity. ** The March, 1973 edition of Mad Magazine lampooned the Planet of the Apes franchise in issue #157. The character Dr. Zaius was re-named Dr. Zaydius. ** In Reality Bites, TV producer Michael Grates (Ben Stiller) keeps a statuette of Dr. Zaius in his office, which Lelaina (Winona Ryder) damages during a visit. ** In the Seinfeld episode "The Reverse Peephole", as Elaine and Puddy (who is wearing a large fur coat) enter Joe Mayo's apartment, Elaine introduces Puddy with the words "I think you know Dr. Zaius." She later throws the coat out a window saying, "Goodbye, Dr. Zaius." ** The engineering security network at Boston University is named Zaius after Dr. Zaius. The Zaius security system is the "defender of all things engineering." ** In the 1997 cult classic Rocketman, astronaut Fred Z. Randall refers affectionately to Ulysses, the chimpanzee who accompanies the crew to Mars, as "Little Doctor Zaius." ** In a segment of the February 14, 2008 episode of Late Show with David Letterman, Lyle the Intern says to David Letterman, "Your loss, Dr. Zaius." ** The character, Maurice in the 2011 Planet of the Apes reboot film Rise of the Planet of the Apes, was named in honor of Doctor Zaius' actor, Maurice Evans. See also External Links * References ---- Category:3955/Character deaths Category:Film characters Category:Antagonists Category:Main characters